ST. CLOUD -- Students at Apollo High School have been working hard this winter, to help out children over 2,000 miles away.

Apollo students Cole Stroot, and Olivia Skudlarek recently organized a large supply drive to send everything from books to shoes to Ruska Village in Haiti. Stroot's family opened a school in Ruska years ago.

Stroot says, helping both build up a school and deliver supplies to the kids down in Haiti was a life-changing experience.

"Truly life-changing, they didn't even have a cafeteria or kitchen in there. They'd just cook all their food over a campfire, if they had food. All they have is classrooms with maybe a desk and a chalkboard. It's not anything like we have here."

Skudlarek is the President of Apollo's National Honor Society. She says while they've done supply drives before, this time was challenging since they weren't trying to get them across town, but to the Caribbean.

"We had to figure out how to get stuff down there. So we had to raise money for the suitcases to bring it down, rather than just bringing it via car [like the usual process]. So it was just more difficult figuring out the technical side of things."

All in all the Stroot family brought four suitcases filled with notebooks, pencils, shoes and other supplies for the Haitian children.

Stroot says the sight of the kids' when they were able to get their new supplies was incredible, and that there were over 200 students who were able to be supplied, in large part thanks to Apollo High School students.

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